Household in the old Dutch colony times, 1859

Courtesy New York Public Library

CURATIVE, “God’s remedy”

Settlers used tobacco leaves to treat ulcerated skin, wounds, and burns, sniffed the fresh plant for headaches, rubbed powdered leaves around the mouth for colds and catarrh, and smoked or chewed tobacco to improve digestion, to ward off hunger and thirst, and for pain relief.

Advertisement for Lucky Strike cigarettes, The American Tobacco Co., 1930

Courtesy National Museum of American History [Jackler Collection/Archives]

MARKET, Marketing Emancipation

Smoking by women was originally considered a sign of disrepute. By the 1920s, glamorous depictions of women smoking began to appear in movies and cigarette advertisers began to appeal to them directly. Smoking cigarettes soon came to be seen as a symbol of the modern, emancipated woman.

Courtesy National Museum of American History [Jackler Collection/Archives]

MARKET, Selling Smooth Flavor

As evidence of the health risks of smoking mounted, tobacco companies cast doubts on medical data and advertised smoother and lighter blends as safer versions of the standard cigarette. In 1946, the Camel company launched an eight-year magazine and radio campaign claiming that more doctors smoked their brand than any other. These efforts were so successful, along with the addictive properties of nicotine and a lack of strong incentives to drop the habit, that smoking did not begin to decline in the United States until the publication of the Surgeon General’s first report on the subject in 1964.

Every doctor in private practice was asked:
—family physicians, surgeons, specialists… doctors in every branch of medicine—
“What cigarette do you smoke?”

According to a recent Nationwide survey:
More Doctors Smoke Camels than any other cigarette!

Not a guess, not just a trend… but an actual fact based on the statements of doctors themselves to 3 nationally known independent research organizations.

YES, your doctor was asked… along with thousands and thousands of other doctors from Maine to California.

And they’ve named their choice – the brand that more doctors named as their smoke is Camel! Three nationally known independent research organizations found this to be a fact.

Nothing unusual about it. Doctors smoke for pleasure just like the rest of us. They appreciate, just as you, a mildness that’s cool and easy on the throat. They too enjoy the full, rich flavor of expertly blended costlier tobaccos. And they named Camels… more of them named Camels than any other brand. Next time you buy cigarettes, try Camels.

THE “T-ZONE” TEST WILL TELL YOU

The “T-Zone” – T for taste and T for throat – is your own laboratory, your proving ground, for any cigarette. For only your taste and your throat can decide which cigarette tastes best to you… and how it affects your throat. On the basis of the experience of many, many millions of smokers, we believe Camels will suit your “T-Zone” to a “T”.

Red Cross worker distributing cigarettes to injured soldiers, 1918

Courtesy National Library of Medicine

CONSUMER, Pleasure and Tobacco

Professional as well as working men enjoyed chewing tobacco, snuff, and pipe smoking, and by the nineteenth century, cigars were a symbol of wealth and power for the upper class. During the First World War, the popularity of cigarettes was spurred on by the distribution of free supplies to soldiers.

Rogers’ Chart. Showing diseases caused by the use of tobacco, Rogers’ Drug and Chemical Co., 1901

Courtesy National Museum of American History

PROHIBITIVE, Poisonous Smoke

The negative health effects of tobacco were noted early on. Physicians became increasingly cautious about tobacco as a medicine because of its poisonous qualities. However, smoking did not begin to decline in the United States until the publication of the Surgeon General’s first report on the subject in 1964.

No-To-Bac, Sterling Remedy Co., 1906–1908

Courtesy National Museum of American History

PROHIBITIVE, Cure the Habit

No-To-Bac, a chewing gum containing licorice, plant materials, and salt, was one of several products marketed as a cure to the tobacco habit. The remedy was marketed to men, the main users of tobacco at the time, as a means to restore manly vigor and virility imperiled by nicotine use.

DIRECTIONS INSIDE FOR THE USE OF NO – TO – BAC
GUARANTEED TOBACCO HABIT REMEDY,
IF USED ACCORDING TO DIRECTIONS. BECAUSE IT REMOVES DESIRE BY COUNTER-ACTING THE NICOTINE
POISON
HELPS MAKE WEAK MEN STRONG, GAIN WEIGHT, MANLY VIGOR AND THE OLD MAN FEEL IMPROVED AFTER QUITTING TOBACCO
USERS ARE INVITED TO WRITE FOR ADVICE
Sterling Remedy Co.
ADDRESS, CHICAGO, MONTREAL, CAN. OR NEW YORK.
NO-TO-BAC KILLS TOBACCO
NICOTINE IS DEAD

No-To-Bac, a chewing gum containing licorice, plant materials, and salt, was one of several products marketed as a cure to the tobacco habit. The remedy was marketed to men, the main users of tobacco at the time, as a means to restore manly vigor and virility imperiled by nicotine use.

NO – TO – BAC
NO – TO – BAC
Kills the Tobacco Habit
Sold & Guaranteed, By All Druggists.
NO – TO – BAC
NICOTINE
THE DANDO PRINT PHILA-

For generations, Native Americans have smoked pipes full of dried tobacco leaves for spiritual and social purposes and used the plant in medicinal remedies. Tobacco became known among English settlers as “God’s remedy” for its many uses.
Smoking has endured as a popular pastime despite early evidence of tobacco’s dangerous effects. Regular users were labeled “slaves” to their habit. This reflects not just the addictive properties of the tobacco alkaloid, nicotine, but the great success of advertising, which helped to foster the habit among women as well as men, rich and poor, at work and at play.